Au dernier plan. — In the back-gronnd

2. OectB. — Slain; from the old verb occire; Lat. occidere. LitUa Qaed.

8. Il écrit à outrance, — He writes vigorously or desperately.

4. Pas grand diote. — Not much. The apparent eusion of an e in the expressions granSdune^ arandmJkre^ grandchambre^ &c., arises from the fact, that anciently French adjectives den'ved from Latin adjecti^es of two terminationSf as m'andis-ej did not add an e mute for the féminine. Later, however, grand became grande before féminine nouns, but not in the above-mentioned and in a few other expressions. The printers of the sixteenth centurv, thinking an elision had taken place, inserted the apostrophe, whîch su()se^ue:it usage has sanctioned. J9 is pronounced in none ot* the above combmations.

5. Point que Je sache. — Not that I know of. The verb savoir îs the only one that is thus used in the subjunctive, instead of the indicative, whên not dépendent upon another verb. This occurs only in négative

f>hrases, and in the tîrst person singular, Je ne sache pas. This form is esfl positive than Je ne sais pas.

6. £^8 bleus. — The royal ists of La Vendre called the Repnblican soldiers les bleus on account of the color of their uniform. Hitherto the infantry had wom white, so that the opponents of the Republic were sometimes called les blancs. See also Note 8 to " Bataille de Dames."

7. Paperasses. — Old papers. The terminations ace, acke, asse, fbrm augmentatives, often attachmg to the primitive an idea of contempt, as populace, ganache, bestiasse.

8. Morbleu. — Such expressions as parbleu, corbleu, morbleu, &c., had better be left untranslated, as their exact English eauivalents, 'sblood, ^sdeath, zounds, &c., are not in use at présent. BÎeu is in reality a softencd fonn for Dieu; though this is seldom known, and certainly never thonght of, by those who utter thèse expletives, which, in course of time, hâve lost their force as oaths. If English équivalents must be given, such exclamations as "my," "goodness," "gracions," or even "indeed," " truly." may be used. The same may be said of th« frequently recurring Mon Dieu, which, as an exclamation, must nevcr be translated literally, as in French it has no such force as the English words would seem to imply. Many persons use tbese expressions in France, whom it wonid be nnjust to accuse of interspersing oaths in their daily speech. Habits, and modes of speech, are différent in différent countries and at différent pneriods, as the Ê?eedom of English comédies of the last centniy suffi" ciently proves.

9. Ce n*est peu de moi qu'il n'agit — The question is not abont me, nor even, &c. — See " Bataille de Dames," Note 13.

10. Tiruie sa vie durant.— Durant is the only préposition that may thus be placed after the noun it governs. It would be equally correct to say durant sa vie. DuHny is raore frequently trauslated by pendant than by durant; for the latter dénotes a continuoûs duration, while the former does not imply an iininterriipted period of time: thus, </«/•««< Vhirer means during the winter (the whole of it); pendant P hiver is during (in) the winter.

11. Nims avons beau vivre en l'an VI. — For ail we may live in the year VI. of the Republic. The expression avoir beaUy in vain, for ail that, is tlius explained by Littré in his "Dict. de la Langue française:" La locution avoir beau pour dire faire inutilement, peut s'expliquer ainsi: avoir beau c'est toujours avoir beau champ, beau temps, belle occasion; avoir beau faire, c'est proprement avoir tout favorable pour faire. Voilà le sens ancien et naturel. Mais par une ironie facile à comprendre, avoir beau a pris le sens d'avoir le champ libre, de pouvoir faire tout ce qu'on voudra, et, par suite, de se perdre en vains efforts. Vous avez beau dire, c'est primitivement, il est bien à vous de dire; puis, vous pouvez dire^ on vous permet de dire, mais cela ne servira a rien.

L^an VJ. — t.e., 1798-9. The first year of the French Republic cornmenced on the 22d of September, 1792.'

12. Aux prises. — Struggling. Prise is from prendre : it therefore literally means a seizing, a grappling, as in a hand-to-hand combat.

13. Ah ! dame ! — This exclamation, whieh is very common in certain parts of France, cornes from Dominus. The expression Dame Dieu for Seigneur Dieu was common in the middle âges. There is therefore no need of deriving dnme from Notre Dame, as somc do. The broad pronunciation of the a, which in pome provinces sounds almost like an o in this Word, supports the former dérivation. It lias the force ofindeed.